Ballast Point Even Keel

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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On tap at Beachwood BBQ. Pours with a small, off-white head over a orange body. Aroma of herbal hops, floral and citrus. Taste is malty, caramel, grain and herbal hops. Lively bubbles and a dry mouthfeel. Really a ton of flavor for 3.5%, all of us thought it was in the mid 4’s or low 5’s.

Draught Small, off-white head over amber-orange ale. Hops, C-hops, but in a discreet citrussy aroma; as well as green apple ester. Very smoky taste, hopscake - even a lot. Cigarette ashes it really are. Quite a lot of taste for such a low-alcohol beer (the brewery blackboard said 3.5 percent!), but the finish is a bit watery after all, and it is discreet - maybe too discreet, but indeed a very flavourful "session"beer.

Light amber pour, white head. Lots of hops in the nose, some citrus and grass with a caramel note. Flavor is big on the hops, caramel notes come through and hard to imagine its only 3.5. Nice.

My Bottom Line :
Mildly honeyed and toasted malts garnish this session APA’s citrusy hop resins for lean quenching experience.

Further Personal Perceptions :
-A slice of foam tops the misty bronze.
-The wooden hop bitterness is leveled with the rest of the flavor profile’s moderate intensity.
-The mouthfeel is slender, but never thin.
-The nose could be brighter. This smells (and tastes) like a second running brew...

On tap at The Ginger Man, NYC.

This is the second time I’ve had this beer. The first time was at Blue Palms and then at Ballast Point. I was not impressed the first time, but figured I would give it another chance. A: The beer is a very clear light golden color with a thin layer of white foam that leaves a bit of lacing on the glass. S: Considering the description and all the mentioning of dry-hopping, I had high expectations. This is a pretty fragrant beer, especially for a pale. Lots of citrus hop aromas going on here. T: This definitely has more of an IPA flavor to it. A lot of bitter pine and grapefruit flavors from the hops with hardly any malt flavor. You would not expect this to be such a low gravity beer. M: The beer is quite light on the tongue, but that is the point of it. Very lively carbonation helps to keep it light as well. D: This is a beer I wish was more readily available (even bottled). An amazing session beer and very refreshing. It’s nice to see such a flavorful, low alcohol beer like this.

Sample at GABF 10/11/2012, thanks to Bluemeow76 for assistance with note-taking. Pale amber color with a thin white head and spotty lacing. Aroma of citrus and hops. Light-bodied and effervescent with flavors of grassy hops, citrus and malt. The finish is mildly bitter with a short hoppy aftertaste. Decent overall.

Draft. Amber beer with a whitish head. Nice grapefruit aroma. Pine and light grapefruit flavor with light malt. Medium bodied. Some bitterness. Pine and light grapefruit linger.

Tap at Toronado SD. Poured a hazy orange with a thin white head. Good lace sticking around despite the mediocre tap pour. Aroma is lemony, dank weed with massive orange peel oil and perfume. Taste is insanely perfumey and oily bitter then moves to chewy kumquat and curacao. Just not quite enough body to be an IPA- more of an APA. But now I’m reading 3.5% abv! Holy $#%@. This is one hilarious mild ale that will destroy your face.

Cask at O’Brien’s: Golden color with a light white foamy head. The nose is pronounced with that typical fresh ask hoppy note. The flavor is a bit on the dry side but has a nice chewy malt backbone to back up all the hops. The finish is tangy and lightly sweet with some honey flavors. A balanced APA that just loves being on cask.

This was a damn good session ale. Very hoppy both in nose and flavor. Some sweet bready malt, but very mild. Body is very light, but still pretty dry and resiny. The beer was copper in color.